New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-04-16
LICENSE OR PROHIBITION !
MR.. GRAHAM AND DIR. FUNK HAVE 4
DEBATE.
THE ARGUMENTS on BOTH SIDES SET rokrH- FACTS
AND FIGUREs.

THE ARGUMENTS on BOTH SIDES SET FokrH- FACTS
AND RGUREs.
Robert Graham, secretary OF the Church Temper.
ance Society," and the Rev. DR.. L. X Funk, the editor
- the Prohib,tion organ I" The Voice. have net "a
often as dsputants the high license question tnas
they call each other cranks now with the most refresh
ing frankness Aud each has no hesitation about
admitting that his opponent has garbled the facts OF
iucoIed with the figures at ISSUE az ii that wa, the
oiv thing To be expected any longer from deprsved
nature. 1t is all done good -humoredly enough, how
q, ar. and ND to date bones have been broken
A rather mild hammered old gentleman who con-
,,.sod b;m.elf Democrat, acted buffer between
them Last night at Mr. Grahams stamping ground In
Fourth ave. lust opposite the Cooper Unon, known
popularIy as Annex Hall. The contestants' Mr' IRA
ham in dress coat and DR.. Funk in frock had seau
at opposite ends Of the big lecture platform. luz
ildmannered old Democrat. who couldn't quite
make out lust what bufness he had anyway at eucn
a meeting kept the peace between them, ana caiieo
out the time tor the different rounds OF the DEBATE
Mr. Graham, as usual, opened the discussion gar
lantly He was not cast down q bit by the defeat Oh
the Crosby bill. He had been beaten three times
before by the same unholy alliance OF professional
TEN nerance aaitators and rmseers and he proposed
70 tr, It again in 1883 and, II necessary IN 1852
He laid down four propositions to start from: vi
That the sale OF Intoxicating liquors was not crime
70 That the excessive sale of Intoxicating liquors led
to crime 90 that the tenperae Sse " nae Of LIQUORS
was ain On these Misunderstanding hquo' selling
like any other traffic in dangerous thing, and temper
vtbnq else-he could discover no sensible method OF
Keeping the traffic down TO safe limits other than the
high license plan Prohibition. II it did come, could
not be had possibly in less than three years ana ns
not be had TOR thirty years or ut all 1T u.
The particular point In discussion was high license
prohibition as aieetng t no. enforced in large
cities 1t was against any reasonable theory OF
human nature to hope TO enforce II among Popuia-
ton like this citys of any ctys But high license
had been enforced in several ctes and in each one it
had reduced the number OF liquor shops largely. In
New-York with low license OF pc there was ono
45OO license. one to every 26O in ST. LOUIS villa
a s55O license Que to every .312 in Kansas CITY,
with s645 license. to 800 and in Omaha WITH
81 OOj license one to 426. After thirty years OF
prohibition in Maine, liquor was openly SOLO IN pan-
gor, and in Portland last year there were ooI s.se
for drlnke mess In Providence with six months OIL
prohibition the number OF places where liquor was
sold was greater than before the passage OF the law
The next High License BILL Mr. Grana sa,u " o.r
local option tor counties towns high license, 10"
license or no license The last DILL was as good one
/; tbitd party in its defeat was disgraceiL one No
political faction had shown more oigoted Jolly or
greater lack OF statesmanike sense Inc thrd par.ys
1olcy was rule pr-i un Ii consigned TO hades
The best friends of temperance. IT they refused 10
stand on its narrow Platform. Even Howard crosby
| the man most hated b. the liquorsellers oil New
York was fast being made object OF soon and con-
tempt by these fanatics. One OF them had had
the temerity say the 9th day that he prayed that
| God Almighty would speedily remove Dr. Crosby,
| il he did not convert him. a, -,
| Dr. Funk smiled as he got up to speak at the other
| end OF the platform He was evidently thpkine OF
his successes as lobbyist aud he hlurted out frankly
that he wanted the High License bill out OF the way
II was hindrance and stumbling-bio'k to the thira
party The Methodist church was opposed 10 hign
license: 50 were the Good Templars and the Sons OF
TEMPERANCE and nine tenths OF all the PROFESSIONAL
temperance agi,ators in the country. II the hign
i.ccnse people had proposed simple restriction IN
New ork-the limiting OF the number OF liquors
to one to every 500 inhabitants.-the Prohibition
leaders would have joined with them in trying to
pass the bill But to high license or low license TO
license OF an, sort the third party was unaitetapy
opposed High license had not done much for
| Chicac, or Omaha or any other city in which It had
| been tried In Chicago the number OF. iquor-shop
| was nearly as large az in 1884 and the number OF
arrests for drunkenness much greater In ProNi-
dence during the six months to December 1885, there
were only 400 arrests Tor drunkenness; during me
six months ending December, 1885, there were ,foV
arrests.
The Prohibitionists had nothing TO expect from the
I Democratic party at the North. But the Democrats
nc the South were aockDg over and the Northern ke
publicans would follow suit, High license, too was
| demoralizng everybody Here was Mayor Hewitt
az result oil the high license discussion proposing 10
! open the drink king places Z Sunday afternoons.
| Mr. Graham had another round and knocked out
Dr. Funk's Chicago and Providence figures. and then
the Prohibitionist editor took whack at the secre
tarys revised figures In But the interest was
mainly with the first two speeches. and the aged Dem
ocratic butter unable to tell when the meeting was
oyerfwhich side had won his vote